KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER, A USEFUL TOOL TO SUSTAIN AFRICA'S URBAN GREEN SPACES

Abstract

Globalization and its associated knowledge-based economies driving many developments in the world today makes knowledge transfer an alternative tool to rely on to address many challenges confronting urban green spaces but this remains a grey area on green spaces in Africa. This study sought to assess how knowledge transfer can be used as a tool to sustain Africa's urban green spaces. The focus was on Africa due to its declining urban green spaces. The study utilised the systematic review approach and from the initial search of 287 publications, a total of 148 publications were utilized. The inclusion criteria focused on publications that centred on one or more of the following aspects on green spaces; planning, design, finance, maintenance, monitoring and evaluation. Based on the challenges affecting green spaces in Africa, it was found out that effective knowledge transfer can take place through a well-designed process. This process among other things should focus on avenues to identify and collect knowledge, capture and store knowledge, transfer and share knowledge, apply and measure the knowledge acquired, and lastly create new knowledge. For this process to operate well in Africa, it is recommended that there should be knowledge-based infrastructure in place to facilitate easy transfer, knowledge transfer plan, enabled environment to encourage exchange of ideas, and efforts to control cultural and socio-economic differences that may act as impediments for smooth knowledge transfer to take place.

Headnote

Abstract

Globalization and its associated knowledge-based economies driving many developments in the world today makes knowledge transfer an alternative tool to rely on to address many challenges confronting urban green spaces but this remains a grey area on green spaces in Africa. This study sought to assess how knowledge transfer can be used as a tool to sustain Africa's urban green spaces. The focus was on Africa due to its declining urban green spaces. The study utilised the systematic review approach and from the initial search of 287 publications, a total of 148 publications were utilized. The inclusion criteria focused on publications that centred on one or more of the following aspects on green spaces; planning, design, finance, maintenance, monitoring and evaluation. Based on the challenges affecting green spaces in Africa, it was found out that effective knowledge transfer can take place through a well-designed process. This process among other things should focus on avenues to identify and collect knowledge, capture and store knowledge, transfer and share knowledge, apply and measure the knowledge acquired, and lastly create new knowledge. For this process to operate well in Africa, it is recommended that there should be knowledge-based infrastructure in place to facilitate easy transfer, knowledge transfer plan, enabled environment to encourage exchange of ideas, and efforts to control cultural and socio-economic differences that may act as impediments for smooth knowledge transfer to take place.

Keywords: Knowledge transfer, urban green spaces, sustainability, Africa, systematic review.

1. INTRODUCTION

Africa with its rich diversity of biodiversity comprising wide range of forest, grassland, woodlands, savanna, wetlands, desert and marine ecosystems is recognized by some as the most diverse continent in the world (Fleming, 2019; Global Health Institute, 2019). Further enhancing the rich diversity of the continent is the about 3000 distinct ethnic groups and over 2000 different spoken languages spoken by about 1.3 billion people that occupies approximately 11.7 million square miles of land in Africa (Global Health Institute, 2019; United Nations, 2019). This diversity is also reflected in different forms of green spaces in Africa such as residential and institutional green spaces, street trees, designated parks, botanical and recreational gardens, forests, allotments, and cemeteries (Mensah, 2014). These urban green spaces in the context of this study basically refers to all private and public open spaces in urban areas which are covered with vegetation and are either directly or indirectly available for use (Mensah, 2014; URGE Team, 2004).

Generally, urban green spaces provide humerous ecosystem services that are beneficial to the overall well-being of urban dwellers. These benefits include improving air quality, providing shade, reducing flooding through easy water infiltration through their soft surfaces, and also reducing noise pollution (Norton et al., 2015; Aworinde et al. 2013; Cilliers et al., 2013) Other benefits include farmlands and home gardens serving as important source for food, income and employment opportunities; parks providing spaces for social gathering, interactions, and physical activities; urban forest ameliorating local climate; and street trees and the general greenery enhancing the aesthetic beauty of areas (Nero, 2017; Coutts & Hahn 2015).

However, several studies have found out that the benefits of green spaces are not fully realized in Africa. For instance, in Abeokuta (Nigeria) only few of the residents perceived the benefits of urban forest in regulating the flow of run-off water in the area (Adekunle et al., 2013). Similarly, the benefit of green space in providing habitat for wildlife was less felt in Kumasi, Ghana (Dumenu, 2013). Furthermore, limited benefits of green spaces in temperature regulations were found in Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), and Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) due to low tree cover as a result of deforestation and poor maintenance (Cavan et al., 2014; Di Leo et al., 2016; Feyisa, Dons & Meilby, 2014). In several towns in South Africa, studies have found out that very small proportions of urban dwellers rely on green spaces for income and employment opportunities (Davenport et al., 2012; Kaoma & Shackleton, 2015).

In addressing the several challenge affecting widespread realization of the benefits of urban green spaces in Africa (such as rapid urbanization, insufficient regulatory planning framework, poor maintenance culture, inadequate funds, institutional bottlenecks and poor collaboration among stakeholders) some measures have been put in place by local city authorities and national governments. These measures include developing Urban Greenery and Beautification Strategy in Ethiopia (Eshetu et al, 2021), My Dream Park Project in South Africa (Roji, 2020), and modification of urban planning laws in Ghana (Mensah, 2021). Notwithstanding all these efforts, Africa's urban green spaces are still diminishing at an alarming rate. This situation coupled with the fact that in the next three decades the continent will be greatly hit by rapid urbanization with over 1.3 billion people living in urban areas (UN-Habitat, 2014) which will further put pressure on urban green spaces calls for other alternative solutions to manage Africa's green spaces sustainably. The current knowledge-based economies which are driving various developments in the world therefore makes it critical to delve into how transfer of knowledge can help develop innovative ideas to successfully manage urban green spaces in Africa. This remains a grey area on green spaces since previous studies have focused on "knee jerk" and piecemeal solutions that seldom provide the needed results. This paper aims to bridge this gap by assessing how knowledge transfer can be used as an essential tool to sustain Africa's urban green spaces. This will contribute immensely to generating wide-range of ideas toward the realization of SDG 11 (Sustainable cities) and broad aspirations of AU Agenda 2063 especially aspiration 4 (safe and peaceful spaces for individuals, families and communities).

2. CONCEPTUALISING KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

Knowledge is one of the most essential assets of an organization or the society as a whole and if wellutilized can ensure judicious use of resources to achieve a desired result. According to the European Framework for Knowledge Management (2015), the term knowledge refers to experience and expert opinion added to both data and information to have a valued asset that can be utilized to improve the decision-making capacities of a given organization. Similarly, Turban et al., (2005) defined knowledge to be a data and/or information that has been organized in a way to provide understanding, experience and expertise to address a given problem. This makes data and information important elements of knowledge with data covering unprocessed objective raw facts, and information referring to processed data that make meaning to humans (Pearlson & Saunders, 2004).

Knowledge whether in the form of tacit (not codified as based on individuals' intuition, experiences and view point) or explicit (codified and explained in formal and systematic language) is transferred from a defined source to a recipient (Mohajan, 2016; Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995). Knowledge transfer therefore broadly covers the process of movement of knowledge between a root source and recipient with the knowledge received being utilized or implemented accordingly (Hassan et al., 2017; Nguyen & Burgess, 2014). The transfer can take place between people at different levels, within organizations, between organizations as well as between governments at both local and international levels. The major tools often relied on to transfer knowledge include succession plans, coaching, knowledge repositories, mentoring, exchange programs and job rotations (Wenger 2014; Whyte & Classen, 2012). Tacit knowledge has been found to be often transferred through coaching, mentorship and storytelling (Whyte & Classen, 2012; Davenport & Prusak, 2000). With respect to explicit knowledge, studies have shown that such knowledge are commonly transferred through services and documented processes where by one acknowledges the necessary protocols and take ownership (Mazorodze & Buckley, 2020). Policies and procedures, manuals, reports, databases and knowledge repositories serve as major sources for explicit knowledge (Serban & Luan, 2003).

According to Huysman and de Wit (2004), knowledge transfer is often done for three main purposes namely knowledge creation, knowledge acquisition, and knowledge reuse. These benefits are very critical for the good performance of organizations. Aside these, Hendriks (2009) stressed that knowledge transfer provides organizations with varied repositories of knowledge to rely on to have competitive advantage in the market. Other benefits of knowledge transfer highlighted in the literature include supporting best practices, stimulating innovation and growth, assisting quick and better decision making, reducing loss of know-how, and promoting networking and collaboration. However, for knowledge transfer to take place for the above benefits to be achieved, a well-defined process needs to be followed. O'Dell and Grayson (1998) developed a model of knowledge transfer which provides clear step-by-step guidelines to aid knowledge transfer which is adopted to underpin the current study (Figure 1).

The model provides seven (7) defines steps of the knowledge transfer process in an enabled environment which have four (4) components: culture, measurement, infrastructure and technology. Culture refers to the culture of an organization which varies from one to another. Measurement in the context of the model focuses on the measurement criteria that an organization needs to develop to measure its performance from time to time with the infrastructure component referring to the available infrastructure that organizations need to possess to enable them transfer their knowledge (such as organizational structure, networks, knowledge databases). The fourth component in the enabled environment for knowledge transfer to strive which is technology deals with advances of technology that organizations need to have to speed up the knowledge transfer process such as communication and collaboration tools. Although O'Dell and Grayson (1998) model offer a useful framework to support knowledge transfer, the model is much process oriented specifying the necessary steps to follow but very silent on the different methods and tools to transfer the knowledge (Guribie & Tengan, 2019).

Generally, knowledge transfer is expected to have positive impacts on the receiving organizations to improve their performance, however, to make this possible some efforts must be made to address some of the challenges associated with knowledge transfer, These challenges include cultural differences, difficulties in interpreting the knowledge transferred correctly, poor relationships within and between organizations, and technical and technological bottlenecks inhibiting smooth transfer of knowledge (Hassan et al., 2017; Martinkenaite, 2012).

3. SELECTED BEST PRACTICES ON GREEN SPACES

There are some examples of best practices on the management of green spaces in Africa and other parts of the world that need to be highlighted for several lessons to be learnt from them. Major among these best practices is the recent effort by the FAO to enhance the greening of Africa's cities through the Green Cities Action Programme launched in June 2021. This programme aims at helping Africa to build more sustainable and resilient cities with pleasant natural environment and food security to ensure a better life for all (FAO, 2021). Six cities purposely selected for the pilot phase of the programme have started putting the necessary measures in place to among other things have accessible green spaces and green life styles. These cities include Antananarivo in Madagascar, Kigali in Rwanda, Praia in Cabo Verde, Quelimane in Mozambique, and Kisumu and Nairobi in Kenya.

The World Health Organisation (2017) guidelines for the design, planning, and monitoring and evaluation of green spaces provide a useful framework to ensure sustainable management of these spaces. The guidelines on the design of green spaces focus on creating green spaces in a way to make them closer to people, incorporating simple design features to enhance the comfort of green space users, plans to support the diversity of green spaces to meet varied demands, and strategies to improve the maintenance of green spaces against depletion. The planning guidelines highlight sustainable planning approaches to achieve long term development perspectives of green spaces through the development of green space action cycle (Figure 2). The monitoring and evaluation aspect of the guidelines provide indicators to assist the monitoring of the impact green spaces under four main themes: environmental/ecological, lifestyle, social and equity impacts.

Having a green space policy which focuses on enhancing the development and maintenance of green spaces in cities serve as another good practice on the management of green spaces. For example, The Johannesburg open space policy which was developed in 2004 and implemented accordingly has helped to protect the city's green spaces to make Johannesburg one of the greenest cities in Africa. Similarly, in Europe, the Paris city policy for green spaces has helped the city to chuck several successes on the management of green spaces.

Another good practice on the management of green spaces is the application of funding approaches to sustain such spaces. These funding ranges from traditional local authority funding, multi-agency public sector funding, taxation initiatives, planning and development opportunities, bonds and commercial finance, income-generating opportunities, endowments, and voluntary sector involvements (CABE, 2006). The application of the traditional local authority funding by the Kumasi City authorities (Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly [KMAI) to create a new modern amusement Rattray Park needs commendation. The cost of the construction of Rattary Park which is US$ 4.4 million was funded from the Internally Generated Funds of КМА with some support from the World Bank's Urban Development Grant (Myjoyonline, 2015).

The diversified maintenance and management of urban lawn strategy offers itself as a good practice to conserve urban green spaces. This strategy applied in Ancona (Italy) by Pantaloni et al. (2024) helped to reduced maintenance cost on green spaces and improved the environmental performance of such spaces. Combining qualitative and quantitative techniques as well as categorizing green spaces into three zones that align themselves with a well-thought-out maintenance regime based on functionality and ornamental values this strategy reduced maintenance cost of green spaces. Specifically, the strategy helped to save EUR 16,800 on the maintenance of green spaces which is approximately 16% of the total maintenance cost on green spaces between 2006 and 2019.

4. DATA AND METHODS

The systematic review approach was utilized to gather and analyse data for the study. This was due to the broad nature of the study covering the whole of Africa which required enough secondary information to adequately address the topic under study. In addition, the strength of this approach in providing structured and a well-defined process to analyse and give results that are both reliable and meaningful to readers also made it an appropriate choice to consider (Munn et al., 2018). The systematic review approach generally deals with using an explicit approach to search, appraise and synthesize the assembled literature to address a study's objective (Mensah et al., 2016; Victor, 2008; Akobeng, 2005). It follows a structured and pre-defined process to provide evidence-base findings. This makes the approach robust and comprehensive devoid of biases to offer more accurate and reliable conclusions (Tawfik et al., 2019, Mensah et al., 2016).

Following the guidelines of humerous studies on the conduct of systematic review, the understated steps were followed to retrieve and analyse secondary materials for the study (Tawfik et al., 2019; Mensah et al., 2016; Uman, 2011; Victor, 2008; Coren & Fisher, 2006).

* Formulating a question to guide the review: Under this, a research question was asked to guide the review. The question was framed in away to capture the main problem and key themes driving the study (i.e knowledge transfer and urban green spaces). The question asked was "How can knowledge transfer be used to sustain urban green spaces in Africa?". This question provided a scope about the kind of materials to search for. Figure 3 illustrate the review question and its underlying structure that was followed to assemble data for the study.

* Searching for relevant publications: Here a number of databases were searched to retrieve relevant publications. In line with the topic under study the search focused on using words or phrases such as "knowledge transfer", "knowledge sharing", "knowledge management," green J) « spaces", "open spaces', and "public spaces'. These words were searched on electronic databases such as Google Scholar, Thomson Reuters, Science Direct, Social Science Research Network, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), JSTOR, Ingenta Connect, Web of Science, and Scopus. In addition to this, Google, Yahoo, Bing and Ask.com internet search engines were utilized to get further publications. In all, a total of 287 publications were retrieved.

* Assessing the quality of selected publications: The task under this step was very involving and demanding as much time was spent to look at the titles and abstracts of all the selected publications. They were thoroughly scrutinized to select those that lend themselves to the topic under study. Further emphasis was given to some of the quality assessment criteria for selecting publications such as credibility of the publisher, sampling criteria and data collection tools by Bowler et al. (2010). Further inclusion criteria focusing on publications that centred on one or more of the following aspects on green spaces were utilised; planning, design, finance, maintenance, monitoring and evaluation. This analysis brought the initial selected publication down to 148.

* Final analysis and synthesis of evidence: After getting the final selected publications that met the set criteria for the review, the final task was to put the ideas from these publications together to address the objective of the study. In doing this, detailed content analysis was done to carefully collate the findings of the publications and analyse them to provide a well-synthesized results to serve as the findings of the study.

5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In line with the knowledge transfer model underpinning the study the following themes were teased out to structure the discussion of the paper.

5.1. Identifying & Collecting Knowledge

This is the first step in the knowledge transfer process which requires institutions or organizations managing green spaces to identify relevant ideas or practices that can help enhance their managerial roles and the sustainability of green spaces, and collect them accordingly. This may include brainstorming, and engaging experts or consultants. Here both tacit and explicit knowledge on the subject matter should be collected. Concerning explicit knowledge which are often written, documented and practiced elsewhere, institutions managing green spaces should make conscious efforts to search and scout for best practices on the management of green spaces and collect them for future deliberation for their adoption or adaption in their respective institutions. Such best practices can focus on key issues on the management of green spaces such as financing, planning and maintenance. For example, on financing, different funding schemes being used to manage green spaces elsewhere or have been highlighted in the literature such as those by CABE (2006) could serve as important source of knowledge to collect for subsequent discussion.

With respect to the tacit knowledge which emanates from the experiences and opinions of individuals, institutions managing green spaces should create a conducive and enabling environment to encourage effective participation of staff and relevant key stakeholders to provide useful knowledge to enhance their activities. To create a strong culture of knowledge generation within institutions on green spaces, the following measures can be adopted

* Documenting the challenges confronting the institution,

* Seeking inputs among the staff and relevant stakeholders,

* Training staff to have good skills and abilities to generate innovative ideas, and

* Building strong network and collaborations

This will create an enabling environment where useful ideas, inputs and expertise can be sought from all relevant stakeholders to generate appropriate knowledge to manage urban green spaces.

5.2. Capturing and storing knowledge on green spaces

This stage of the knowledge transfer process builds on the earlier stage to store the available knowledge identified and collected. This goes beyond having mere file cabinet or Google Drive folders as storage devices to store knowledge information. Good knowledge management practice requires having a broad infrastructure in place to store knowledge and also make the knowledge stored easily accessible within and outside green space management institutions. This will demand having a knowledge base infrastructure system in place to capture and store both tacit and explicit knowledge on urban green spaces. This system will include the following:

* Knowledge portals and repositories

* Document libraries

* Reports

* Visuals and videos

* A dedicated team

A typical example of the reports will be the individual reports compiled by green space management institutions about ideas generated by their outfits (e.g. Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo annual reports) and also reports on local and international conferences, fora and workshops organized by international organizations. A good example of such reports on international conferences is the reports of "Africities" summits which often dedicates specific sessions of the summits to the management of green spaces in Africa where innovative ideas on managing such spaces are shared by experts. Online knowledge portals/repositories of UNDP, UN-Habitat, FAO and World Bank that focuses on urban green spaces also serve as useful knowledge storage avenues to rely on to get up to date knowledge on green spaces. This knowledge storage infrastructure systems readily make knowledge accessible to avoid undue delay in the transfer of knowledge.

5.3. Transferring and sharing knowledge on urban green spaces

This basically deals with distribution of knowledge on urban green spaces from a source to a recipient. With the right technology this can be made more efficient and affordable without any inappropriate cost. To easy transfer knowledge for the appropriate acknowledgement to be given to the source, green space management institutions need to develop a sharing mechanism and a knowledge transfer plan which often have the following components as indicated by Brown (2019):

* An outlined process on how to transfer knowledge.

* A management system that organizes and supports knowledge transfer.

* Communication facilities that support collaboration and networking.

* A person or persons entrusted with the responsibilities of transferring knowledge to different outlets.

* A follow-up process to confirm that the knowledge transfer was done in a right way, to the right people at the right time.

A side the above knowledge transfer plan, the newly created Centre on African Public Spaces serves an important knowledge transfer point. It was established among other things to assemble rich knowledge across the African continent to aid sustainable management of public spaces in Africa. The creation of the centre is an initiative of Johannesburg city in partnership with other African cities, civil society advocacy groups and universities. Among the centre's core mandates is to provide a platform where useful knowledge on Africa public spaces can be sought for learning, connecting cities and sustaining public spaces with collaborative research, teaching, advocacy and training being vital avenues to achieve this mandate (Roji, 2020). The forgoing makes the centre a useful asset for institutions on green spaces in Africa to rely on for knowledge to effectively manage such spaces.

5.4. Applying the knowledge acquired & measuring results

This deals with applying specific knowledge acquired to address a given problem on urban green spaces. Coaching serves as an important tool for the green space institutions that have acquired new knowledge on green spaces to understand how the new knowledge works and how to use such knowledge judiciously. Management Mentors (2019) stressed that coaching helps to prefer the skills of employees to implement knowledge acquired appropriately. Similarly, Abbott (2014) opined that coaching guide trainee (in this case receivers of knowledge transfer) to well operationalized the knowledge acquired and implement them successfully on the ground. This coaching should be done by representatives of the source of the new knowledge or experts in the field of the new knowledge. Coaching on mapping of public spaces using a new technology (KoBo Toolbox) by UN-Habitat to practitioners from African cities such as Johannesburg, Nairobi and Addis Ababa is a good example of how coaching can be used to perfect the knowledge acquired on green spaces (UN-Habitat, 2018). The coaching was done by UN-Habitat to train selected African city authorities on how to apply the new technology well to assess the distribution, accessibility, quantity, and quality of public spaces in their cities. This was to make African cities build inclusive and accessible public spaces such as green spaces as enshrined in SDG 11 target 7 which seeks to achieve by 2030 "universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces'.

Apart from applying acquired knowledge on green spaces, this stage of the knowledge transfer process also calls for measuring results of the applied knowledge to check their successes. In this regard, green space management institutions can develop their own measurement/performance indicators or carefully adopt or adapt existing measurement indicators to perform such tasks. In terms of measuring the impact of green spaces on health, WHO's (2017) measurement model provides a guide to assist such task (Figure 4).

5.5. Creating new knowledge

After trying or implementing the knowledge gained through knowledge transfer on a smaller scale or pilot bases and realize that it is providing the necessary results then this provides good grounds to expand the implementation of the said knowledge on a bigger scale to achieve enough success. Continual usage of such knowledge to achieve successes on urban green spaces will demonstrate how new knowledge gained from knowledge transfer can be utilized to protect green spaces. On the other hand, if the implementation of the knowledge acquired through knowledge transfer is not paying off as expected, this presents a new opportunity to innovate. That is, it will give opportunity for green space management institutions to modify the transferred knowledge taking into consideration the socio-economic, technological, cultural, political, and physical issues to enable the knowledge fit very well in the environment that is being applied.

6. CONCLUSIONS

In sum, knowledge transfer serves as a useful assert that can be relied upon to generate new ideas to sustain Africa's urban green spaces. Using it will help institutions managing urban green spaces to always develop new ideas and tailored solutions to the address the various problems confronting Africa's urban green spaces. To make its usage effective, a well-connected process should be designed and followed such as the one that was used to structure the discussions of the current study. This process should make room for issues such as identification and collection of knowledge, storage and acquisition of knowledge, transferring and sharing of knowledge, application and measurement of the knowledge acquired to see its impact, and avenues to add on to the knowledge acquired to generate new knowledge. However, caution should therefore be taken when using knowledge transfer as a tool since cultural, political and socio-economic differences may affect its smooth usage.

References

REFERENCES

Abbott, G.N. (2014). Cross-cultural coaching: A paradoxical perspective. In E. Cox, T. Bachkirova, D. Clutterbuck, (eds.), The complete handbook of coaching, 2m edition (pp. 295-317). Sage: London.

Adekunle, М. F., Agbaje, В. M., & Kolade, V. O. (2013). Public perception of ecosystem service functions of peri - urban forest for sustainable management in Ogun State. African Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 7(6),410-416. http://dx.doi. org/10.5897/ajest2012.1411.

Akobeng, A. K. (2005). Understanding systematic reviews and meta-analysis. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 90(6), 845-848. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/adc.2004.058230

Aworinde, D. O., Erinoso, $. M., Ogundairo, В. O., & Olanloye, A. O. (2013). Assessment of plants grown and maintained in home gardens in Odeda Area Southwestern Nigeria. Journal of Horticulture and Forestry, 5, 29-36. doi:10.5897/JHF2013.0294

Bowler, D. E., Buyung-Ali, L. M., Knight, T. M., & Pullin, A. $. (2010). A systematic review of evidence for the added benefits to health of exposure to natural environments. BMC Public Health, 10, 456. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-10-456

Brown, J. (2019). Knowledge transfer: What it is & how to use it effectively. Retrieved February 25, 2022 from https://helpjuice.com/blog/knowledge-transfer.

Cavan, G., Lindley, S., Jalayer, F., Yeshitela, K., Pauleit, S., Renner, F., et al. (2014). Urban morphological determinants of temperature regulating ecosystem services in two African cities. Ecological Indicators, 42, 43-57.

Cilliers, S., Cilliers, J., Lubbe, В. & Siebert, S. (2013). Ecosystem Services of Urban Green Spaces in African Countries Perspectives and Challenges. Urban Ecosyst, 16, 681-702. doi:10.1007/s11252-012-0254-3

Coren, E., & Fisher, M. (2006). The conduct of systematic reviews for SCIE knowledge reviews. London: Social Care Institute for Excellence.

Coutts, C., & Hahn, M. (2015). Green Infrastructure, Ecosystem Services, and Human Health. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 12, 9768-9798. doi:10.3390/ijerph120809768

Davenport, T.H., & Prusak, L. (2000). Working knowledge: How organizations manage what they know. Harvard Business School Press: Boston, MA.

Di Leo, N., Escobedo, F. J., & Dubbeling, M. (2016). The role of urban green infrastructure in mitigating land surface temperature in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 18, 373- 392. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10668-015-9653-y

Dumenu, W. К. (2013). What are we missing? Economic value of an urban forest in Ghana. Ecosystem Services, 5, 137-142. http://dx.doi.0rg/10.1016/.ecoser.2013.07.001.

Eshetu, S.B., Yeshitela, K., & Sieber, $. (2021). Urban green space planning, policy implementation, and challenges: The case of Addis Ababa. Sustainability, 13 (11344), 1-14. https:// doi.org/10.3390/su132011344

European Framework for Knowledge Management (2015). Business knowledge management: A study on market prospects, business needs and technological trends: Final report. Retrieved August 15, 2018 from https://ec.europa.eu/information_society/doc/library/business_knowledge_management.pdf

Feyisa, G. L., Dons, K., & Meilby, H. (2014). Efficiency of parks in mitigating urban heat island effect: An example from Addis Ababa. Landscape and Urban Planning, 123, 87-95. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2013.12.008.

Fleming, E. (2019). How is Africa a diverse continent? Retrieved February 23, 2022 from<https://www.sidmartinbio.org/how-is-africa-a- diverse-continent/

FAO (2021). FAO launches Green Cities Action Programme for Africa. Retrieved February 19, 2022 from https://www.fao.org/in-action/territorios-inteligentes/noticias/detalle/en/c/1413673/

Global Health Institute (2019). A Diverse Continent: African Textiles in Context exhibition opening May. Available at https://ghi.wisc.edu/a-diverse-continent-african-textiles-in-context-exhibition-opening-may/(Accessed: February 23, 2022)

Guribie, F.L., & Tengan, C. (2019). A Proposed Knowledge Management Implementation Framework for then Ghanaian Construction Industry. Journal of Building Construction and Planning Research, 7, 1-10.

Hassan, N. A. H. M., Noor, М. № M., & Hussin, N. (2017). Knowledge transfer practice in organization. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 7 (8), 750-760.

Hendriks, P. (2009). Why share knowledge? The influence of ICT on the motivation for knowledge sharing. Knowledge and Process Management, 6(2), 91-100.

Huysman, M., & de Wit, D. (2004). Practices of managing knowledge transfer: towards a second wave of knowledge management. Knowledge and Process Management, 11(1), 81-92.

Kaoma, H., & Shackleton, C. M. (2015). The direct-use value of urban tree non-timber forest products to household income in poorer suburbs in South African towns. Forest Policy and Economics, 61, 104-112. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/.forpol.2015.08.005

Management Mentors (2019). Building strong workforce with mentoring. Available at https://www.mentoringcomplete.com/ (Accessed: September 22, 2020)

Martinkenaite, |. (2012). Antecedents of knowledge transfer in acquisitions. Baltic Journal of Management, 7(2), 167- 184.

Mazorodze, A.H., & Buckley, S. (2020). A review of knowledge transfer tools in Knowledge-intensive organizations. South African Journal of Information Management, 22(1), 1-6.

Mensah, С. A. (2021). Power struggles on urban green spaces in Kumasi, Ghana: Implications for urban policy and planning. Urban Forum, 32 (4), 415-436.

Mensah, С. A., Andres, L., Perera, U. and Roji, A. (2016). Enhancing quality of life through the lens of green spaces: A systematic review approach. International Journal of Wellbeing, 6(1), 142-163. doi: 10.5502/ijw.v6i1.6

Mensah, C. A. (2014). Urban green spaces in Africa: Nature and challenges. International journal of ecosystem, 4(1), 1-11.

Mohajan, H. K. (2016). Knowledge is an essential element at present world. International Journal of Publication and Social Studies, 1(1), 31-53

Munn, Z., Peters, M. D. J., Stern, C., Tufanaru, C., McArthur, A., & Aromataris, Е. (2018). Systematic review or scoping review? Guidance for authors when choosing between a systematic or scoping review approach. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 18(1), 143. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-018-0611-x

Myjoyonline (2015). Revealed: Kumasi Rattray Park costs КМА 4.4 million US Dollars. Retrieved June 15, 2025 from https://www.myjoyonline.com/revealed-kumasi-rattray-park-costs-kma-44-million-us-dollars/

Nero, B. F. (2017). Urban green space dynamics and socio-environmental inequity: Multi-resolution and spatiotemporal data analysis of Kumasi, Ghana. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 38(23), 6993-7020.

Nguyen, T., & Burgess, S. (2014). A case analysis of ICT for knowledge transfer in small businesses in Vietnam. International Journal of Information Management, 34(3), 416- 421.

Norton, В. A., Coutts, A. M., Livesley, S. J., Harris, В. J., Hunter, A. M., & Williams N. S. С. (2015). Planning for Cooler Cities: A Framework to Prioritise Green Infrastructure to Mitigate High Temperatures in Urban Landscapes. Landscape and Urban Planning, 134, 127-138. doi:10.1016/j. landurbplan.2014.10.018.

Nonaka, |, & Takeuchi, H. (1995). The knowledge-creating company: How Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation. New York: Oxford University Press.

O'Dell, C., & Grayson, С. (1998). If only we knew what we know: Identification and transfer of internal best practices. California Management Review, 40 (3),154-174.

Pantaloni, M., Marinelli, G., Santilocchi, R., Minelli, A., & Neri, D. (2022). Sustainable management practices for urban green spaces to support green infrastructure: An ltalian case study. Sustainability, 14, 4243. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14074243

Pearlson, K.E., & Saunders, C.S. (2004). Managing and using information systems: A strategic approach. Wiley: New York, NY.

Roji, ?. (2020). Towards Pan-African spaces of publics. Retrieved, February 26, 2022 from https://www.urbanet.info/towards-pan-african-spaces-of-public/

Serban, A.M., & Luan, J. (2003). Overview of knowledge management. New Directions for Institutional Research No. 113, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Tawfik ?. M., Dila, ?. A. S., Mohamed, M. Y.F., Tam, D. N. H., Kien N. D., Ahmed, A. M., & Huy, N. T. (2019). À step by step guide for conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis with simulation data. Tropical Medicine and Health, 47(46), 1-9.

Turban, E., Rainer, R.K., & Potter, ?. ?. (2005). Introduction to information technology. Wiley: New York, NY.

Uman, L. S. (2011). Systematic reviews and meta analyses. Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 20(1), 57-59.

UN-Habitat (2018). SDG Indicator 11.7.1 training module: Public space. Nairobi: United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat).

UN-Habitat (2014). The state of African cities 2014: Re-imagining sustainable urban transitions. Nairobi: UN-Habitat.

United Nations (2019). World Population prospects 2019. New York: Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

URGE Team (2004). Making greener cities - A practical guide, No. 8/2004. Leipzig-Halle: UFZ Centre for Environmental Research.

Victor, L. (2008). Systematic reviewing. Social Science Update, 58,1-4.

Wenger, E. (2014). Learning in landscapes of practice: Boundaries, identity, and knowledgeability in practice-based learning. Routledge; Abingdon.

Whyte, G., & Classen, S. (2012). Using storytelling to elicit tact knowledge from SMEs. Journal of Knowledge Management, 16 (6), 950-962.

World Health Organization (2017). Urban green spaces: A brief for action. Copenhagen: World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe.